maly, too: Jim Leiser, His Cushman Motor Scooter, the Drive-In Theater

Monday, January 5, 2015

Jim Leiser, His Cushman Motor Scooter, the Drive-In Theater

Jim Leiser of Iowa City, a friend from my high school days in Cedar Rapids, died recently in Las Vegas. Here's what I wrote to his widow, Janet, and her family in the memories section in connection with his obituary at an Iowa City funeral home:
I was very sorry to learn of Jim's death. He and I were classmates many years ago at Wilson High School in Cedar Rapids.

Both of us were in the 1953 graduating class. If memory serves me correctly, I piloted Jim's Cushman motor scooter around the block a time or two without,incident during our years at Wilson. Jim was among the fortunate few in our class who was able to afford a motor scooter, and it was nice of him to trust me as the occasional driver of the Cushman. I'm dating myself with this comment, but I also think I was among the passengers in a car owned by Jim that attempted to sneak into the drive-in theater on the westside of Cedar Rapids back in the days when there were still drive-in movie theaters. Unfortunately, our endeavor didn't work out the way we had it planned. A security guy at the drive-in caught us before we got into the theater, and instructed us to go home--or at least go somewhere far away from the drive-in. Those were the days! I believe I also remember Jim's wife, the former Janet Dumond. I think she and I were classmates at Lincoln Elementary School at 18th Avenue and 9th Street in Cedar Rapids. Correct me if I'm wrong about that, Janet. Also, of course, Janet and I were classmates at Wilson. My best to Janet and everyone else in Jim's family. My thoughts and prayers are with all of you. * Jim's obituary, courtesy of the Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service in Iowa City:

James E. "Big Jim" Leiser, 79, of Iowa City, died unexpectedly, Tuesday, December 9, 2014, in Las Vegas, NV.

Jim Leiser

Jim was born July 25, 1935, in Sumner, Iowa, the son of Joseph and Beverly (House) Leiser. His family moved to Cedar Rapids where he graduated from Wilson High School.

On August 23, 1953, he was united in marriage to Janet M. Dumond.

The couple lived in Cedar Rapids until moving to Iowa City in 1966. For the past 15 years, Jim and Janet wintered in Arizona.

Jim enlisted in the United States Marine Corps where he proudly served his country during the Korean War.

He was the first of three generations serving in the Marine Corps. Himself in Korea; his son, James E. Leiser Jr. during the Vietnam War and his grandson, Wesley J. Leiser during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Jim was a proud member of the local 125 Plumbers Union as a Master Plumber, retiring in 1991. He was a member of the American Legion, VFW, and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. As an avid swimmer, he competed in the Veterans Golden Age Games.

He was a proud Marine who had a wonderful sense of humor and a generous heart.

His family includes his wife of 61 ½ years, Janet; children, James Leiser Jr. (Sue) of Cedar Rapids; Lynn Martin (Mitch) and Lisa Leiser-Lovetinsky (Dale) all of Iowa City; five grandchildren, Wesley Leiser (Dawn) of Anamosa, Amy Leiser-Vega (Jay McCary) of Cedar Rapids, Chris Martin (Jenny), and Kelly Martin (Jon Flickinger), both of North Liberty and Joseph Rundlett (Anna Leavy) of West Branch; 9 great-grandchildren, 1 great-great grandson, a sister, Elaine Hayes (Larry) of Overland, Kansas; and longtime family friends Gizz Blakley and Jim and Karen Tucker all of Iowa City.

JOLTIN' JOE GOT IT STARTED

When Ron Maly was a kid in Cedar Rapids, he wanted to enter an essay contest, and he did. He wrote about Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees being his favorite baseball player. For finishing second in the contest, Ron won a Louisville Slugger baseball bat autographed by DiMaggio. Ron later wanted to be the first person in his family to attend college, and he was. He earned a degree in political science from the University of Iowa, and did what all political science majors do. He became a sportswriter. He had, after all, covered high school football, basketball and baseball games for the Cedar Rapids Gazette while he worked parttime during his university days. Ron wanted to sit in the press box and write about an Iowa-Minnesota football game, and he did. It happened while he was the sports editor at the Albert Lea [Minn.] Tribune, and the game was at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis. Ron wanted to cover a World Series, and he did. Also when he was working for the Albert Lea newspaper. Ron wanted to cover Rose Bowls, Sugar Bowls, Orange Bowls, Cotton Bowls, Holiday Bowls, a Freedom Bowl, a Sun Bowl, a Super Bowl and NCAA basketball tournaments, and he did those things after he moved to Des Moines. Ron was a four-time sportswriter of the Year in the state of Iowa [the years were 1977, 1978, 1994 and 1996]. In 2006, he was named a charter member of the University of Iowa's media Wall of Fame in the Kinnick Stadium press box. A photo of the plaque that's displayed in the press box is displayed above this story. Following Ron's retirement from the newspaper business, a publisher asked him if he wanted to write a book about the rich football tradition at the University of Iowa, and he did. The hardback version of "Tales from the Iowa Sidelines" was a best-seller, and so was the revised, softback version. Now he's been asked by his publisher to update the book for a second time. He's in the process of doing that at the present time. Ron considers being asked to update a best-selling book for the second time to be the supreme compliment, considering the Hawkeyes won just four games in the 2012 season. When Ron isn't working on books, he's busy traveling and spending time with his family. Indeed, he attends the athletic, theatrical and musical [both vocal and instrumental] events in which his six grandchildren participate. He also writes about anything that interests him for his many websites. Every chance he gets, Ron proudly wears his America Needs Farmers T-shirt.

The Hawkeyes' Rich Football Tradition, Revisited

I mentioned a while back that I was in the process of updating my Tales from the Iowa Sidelines book. Updating it for the second time. The original hardback edition of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines [pictured at the right] was published in 2003, during the 10-3 season, when coach Kirk Ferentz and his Iowa football team had a 10-3 record that included a 37-17 victory over 15th-ranked Florida in the Outback Bowl and after the Hawkeyes went 11-2 in 2002. That book was a best-seller, so the publishers came to me again in 2005, a season that finished with a breathtaking 30-25 victory over No. 11 Louisiana State in the Capital One Bowl on New Year's Day, 2005. Because buyers had cleaned out the the shelves in the bookstores, the publishers wanted to know if I'd do an updated version of the book. I agreed, The revised, soft-cover edition [pictured at the left] was published in 2005. Warren Holloway, who teamed with quarterback Drew Tate on a miraculous 56-yard touchdown pass to win the Capital One Bowl, was featured on the cover. That book, too, turned into a best-seller, So I had reason to feel very good about my years as a published author. It's not every day that a the original version is a best-seller, and so is the updated version. Then, imagine my surprise when I received an e-mail from a senior editor at the publishing company last fall, wanting wanted to know if I was interested in doing a second updated version of the book. It came at a time when things weren't going well for the Hawkeyes in the 2012 season. They lost their last six games and finished with a 4-8 record. Frankly, the thought of doing a revised edition of the book during a 4-8 season seemed to be a stretch. "Maybe producing a revised edition in a year or two would be a better idea," I told the publishers. "We'd like to do it now," I was told. "Let me think about it," I said. After a few days of thought, I accepted the idea. I talked myself into the idea that this was the supreme compliment--being asked to do a second book update during a 4-8 season showed strong confidence by the publishers in me and in the Hawkeyes' football program. So I got back into the business of interviewing players and coaches again, going to postgame press conferences, weekly press conferences and a scrimmage in West Des Moines. After a press conference in Iowa City, I did a one-on-one interview with coach Kirk Ferentz, and mentioned to him that I was in the process of doing a revised edition of my two best-selling books. I congratulated him on the excellent things he had done for Iowa's football program--all of which contributed to the success of my books. "I think Coach Fry had more to do with it," he told me, bringing up the name of Hayden Fry, his one-time boss at Iowa and a man who brought Iowa's football program back from the dead in the 20th century. That's modest Kirk Ferentz for you. Even though the 2012 season wasn't something Hawkeye coaches, players and fans will recall with any special feeling, Ferentz has a 14-year record of 100-74 at Iowa that includes two 11-victory seasons [2002 smd 2009], two 10-victory seasons [2003 and 2004], plus he's been the Big Ten coach of year in 2002, 2004 and 2009, and national coach of the year in 2002. Indeed, Ferentz has done some wonderful things at Iowa City, and I fully expect his success to continue. I've concluded my writing for the second update of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines, and the senior editor has furnished me with an early look at the book. Not only are the Kirk Ferentz years included in the updated version, but so is the stuff I previously wrote about Howard Jones, Dr. Eddie Anderson, Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick and the 1939 Hawkeye Ironmen, Ronald Reagan, Ozzie Simmons, Ossie Solem, Randy Duncan, Alex Karras and lots of other legends from Iowa's rich football history. I expect the book to be in stores soon. I hope you like it.